The Carnival at Moonbright

1:00 AM

The Astral Sea was beautiful. Even in moments like this, Leaf had never stopped admiring the mysteries of the world, the different realms, and how much is still unknown. He thought quickly of the first time Archmage Orin had shown him the Astral Sea in explaining the defenses each Archmage had placed on the tower in case of an attack. That was so long ago, but he remembered the wonder he had felt that day, knowing he could eventually learn to travel between realms.

Orin…

Something happened. He was enchanted somehow. Leaf turned to look at the carnival troupe that was with him. They would need his help to get through this.

“Okay, so we are in the Astral Sea. It is a realm of its own, just like Midgard. This is not the real Moonbright and might not even be the real Archmage Tower. There is much to go over, and I don’t know how much time we have.”

Reaching into his robe, he pulled out his recently acquired spellbook.

“This wasn’t my first spellbook. I had another recently. When I first met Lyla, she was being attacked by a group of people. One of them, Sir Ulric, was there. We managed to take most of them down, but he knocked us both unconscious by the end. He wanted the book and would not take no for an answer. We managed to take him down at the end.

Later that night, once the owners of Lasthold Bakery healed Lyla and me, I tried to return and find the book, but the guards had already seen the body. I snuck through and tried to search Ulric’s body for the book, but it wasn’t there. I assumed it was lost.

That book had all my original theories on necromancy, which Orin had seen while I was in Berkton learning to harness magic, and was why he asked me to be his apprentice. It had theories on true resurrections, bringing back people after they had passed, and not having ill effects. That elven creature at the Athenaeum also mentioned the book to me.”

Leaf paused, and Mr. Muffins spoke up.

“So, you’re telling us that most of this has to do with your book?”

“I think so.”

“What does that have to do with us being here?” Lyla asked.

“I think whoever wanted the book has enchanted Orin. His eyes were white, and he managed to send us here, which means he had some semblance of power, but that might have been all he could do to help us.”

“Where are we?” Rhokhishi asked, gesturing to the space around them.

“We’re in the Astral Sea but still part of the Archmage’s Tower. Each Master or Mistress over the years has made defensive protections on each tower floor to ensure that any attack would be stopped. Chances are, we can still get into the tower, but the only way out of the defenses is to get to the first floor. I have to be honest. I don’t know what all the defenses are. We’re going to have to figure it out as we go. If we stay together, though, we can figure it out.”

“First, we have to get off the roof,” Myla said.

“I could always fly us down,” Gisela replied, pointing at her wings.

“No. Getting in from the outside won’t work. We have to go in from here.”

Leaf walked over to the roof’s south side and waved his hand over the edge. Instead of the usual clear sight, he could see the opaque portal hiding.

“Let’s go. Orin might still be in danger.”

1:20 AM

Leaf ushered the troupe through the portal, then followed. He held his breath, then walked in. The rush of pressure always made him uneasy, but he stepped through and landed on stone. Lyla was next to him, but everyone else was gone.

“We’re on the fifth floor. We made it back from the Astral Sea, at least!”

“Where do we go now?” Lyla asked. “I can’t hear Myla. Leaf, why can’t I hear my sister?”

“Chances are she’s probably still in the Astral Sea.”

“What!? We need to go back.”

Leaf sighed. “The portal is gone. It seems that the defenses of the tower stop us from going back. We’ll have to figure out how to move forward, then go from there.”

The fifth floor was Orin’s floor. Leaf thought back on when he first arrived here, the mess it had been. He didn’t mind the mess, but Orin was adamant about having “a clean space for structure and learning.”

He looked around the room, familiar and foreign in its unique ways, before finding the metallic tables against the wall.

Orin had been working on potions! Maybe one of these could help.

Leaf grabbed what he could, then walked back over to Lyla.

“It seems like some of these could come in handy,” Leaf said, handing a bottle to Lyla.

“What is it?”

“It’ll help in case someone is directly attacking.”

Lyla uncorked the small bottle, watching its blue contents bubble inside as if steaming hot, then downed the contents.

Lyla set the bottle down, and Leaf watched as she perked up, as if something caught her attention. Before he could say any more, she turned and ran down the stairs, disappearing as the portal took her.

Here goes nothing. He thought to himself as he walked down the steps and through the portal.

1:21 AM

Leaf walked further down the steps, then onto solid ground, finding himself on the fifth floor again.

What the…?

Leaf looked around to see if Lyla had reappeared as well. The room was still and silent. He walked from the wall to the stairway again. As he walked through the portal, he felt his feet land on a platform in the Astral Sea, and Leaf saw Rhokhishi and Gisela in combat with darklings.

How did they get in here?

Pulling out his spellbook, he opened it and started the incantation. Ice flowed from his fingertips toward the darkling closest to him. It hit with enough force to lift the creature off its feet and froze in its spot. Rhokhishi took another swing of her warhammer and pounded it to the ground, ash, dust, and ice spraying everywhere as its body combusted on the spot of impact.

“Quick! Into the portal.” Leaf yelled out, holding the door he had just passed through, connected to a frame and nothing else. Rhokhishi ran over and through, then Gisela. Taking a breath and holding it, he rushed after.

1:22 AM

His feet hit stone again, and Leaf moved quickly to see where he was. The room was almost empty compared to the other floors he knew. There was a sulfur smell, and the walls were stained black in places as if an explosion had happened in the past, and it never came off. In the middle of the room was a small autopsy table with a small, wheeled table next to it with various clean instruments and medicinal items. On the other wall, various musical instruments hung, and below them, a glass display of multiple crystals of which elements seemed to be pulsing through.

Giladren Bromwell, fourth Archmage of Cecela. Leaf thought, realizing what floor he was on.

He ran over to the autopsy table, grabbing the glass dagger he knew was there.

This could come in handy.

He moved over to the instruments, picked up the lute, and set it aside. Orin had often used this lute, especially when locking and unlocking this floor.

This has to be the key to getting off this floor.

Before playing, Leaf glanced at the stones in the glass display. He knew they were powerful but never had a chance to ask for their purpose. He marked what was there.

Fulgurite was good for many things, especially since it still coursed with electricity. The hollow moonstone had a lot of power but wasn’t helpful right now. It was filled with liquid inside the spherical stone, but he wasn’t sure how it could be used. The amber was attractive, too. An image illusioned inside it of a cloud was a fun party trick, but he couldn’t figure out any of their uses.

What are these?

Glancing over the last one, Leaf recognized it as Azurite.

Didn’t Mr. Muffins say he needed this recently?

Time was of the essence, but it wouldn’t take long to grab these. He stood back, then waved his hands, causing a tiny mote of fire to fling across the room and shatter the glass display. He reached in, pulling them all out at once, and went to put them into his bag.

As he tried to let go of the amber in his hand, he felt it hold on to his skin. He wanted to remove it, but it felt fused to his arms. Panicked, he pulled harder and harder. The skin pulled as if adhered to the amber and the other ones on his arms. He grasped it with a firmer grip and tried again until he felt a searing hot pain. His vision clouded for a moment, and then he saw the amber stone in his other hand, his arm now covered in blood as the skin came off. He tried to set the rock down and realized it adhered to his other arm.

I don’t have time for this!

Leaf moved over to the lute and, using just one hand, played the chords he had heard Orin play in the past. As he finished the tune, he heard scraping stone as the stairway opened for him to travel down. Blood trailing him, he descended.

1:24 AM

Leaf could see little in this dark room but was more concerned with the sound of broken glass as he made his way to the third floor. He could see over to the desk, a small fox-like creature on its back, holding a vial in its paws, drinking it like a baby. The fox looked over at him and squeaked as if to say something. He shrugged, then moved down the stairwell into the darkness.

As his foot hit the platform, the darkness vanished, revealing Gisela, Rhokhishi, Myla, and Lyla. They were bleeding, bruised, and tired.

As Leaf took a step forward, the fox-like creature flew through the air, plummeting to the platform with a solid thump before growing into the feline form of Mr. Muffins.

“That… was terrible,” He gasped.

Leaf walked over to Rhokhishi.

“Can you help me get these off?” He asked, holding the amber stone in his hand, covered in blood and skin.

“My gods, yes,” she replied, holding her hands over his. Quietly, Rhokhishi prayed, and the chant glowed into her hands as it slowly healed Leaf’s arm, then removed the amber stone.

“These are cursed items. I don’t have much magic left in me today. Tomorrow, we can try to take more off.”

“If we get through to tomorrow,” Lyla’s sarcasm pierced the air.

“This is the platform under the third floor. We should be close,” Leaf said, looking around at the others.

“The stairway is open already to the floor beneath. That’s where I ended up,” Myla stated, her calm expression barely hiding the worry.

“We need to rest first. We’re in a hurry, but we must check our resources,” Leaf stated, sitting and trying not to move.

“We have potions. I found some,” Myla replied, handing them to the group.